RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:ECO-JUDAISM: RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:RABBI FISH:55 GEMORAS:CODE FOR $55,000.TALMUD:CHILLUL HA SHEM

RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:RABBI FISH:55 GEMORAS:CODE FOR $55,000. TALMUD:CHILLUL HA SHEM

Shalom:

As a Liberal rabbi who has been promoting Talmud study in Liberal synagogues for circa 15 years I have received resistance in some, and welcome in many.

As many of you know I have a class online with Shamash.org a service of Hebrew College and Yeshiva in Newton, MA on the ethical teachings of the Talmud along with the Torah and TaNaK, as well as a blog site with Talmudic discourses from both Talmud Yerushalmi and Bavli, http://rabbiarthursegal.blogspot.com/ and a web site www.JewishSpiritualRenewal.org leading to my books which quote heavily from our Talmudic sages on helping us live fuller ethical and spiritual lives. Rabbi Arthur Segal : (001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and Rabbi Arthur Segal : (002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud.

In recent weeks, two of my Chaverim who take my on- line class, also liberal rabbis, started a Talmud study blog, and of course, "The Place , Makum, for Talmud Study" has been on line for many years teaching a verse of Talmud every week or so.

I am not shocked, but I am upset, about the Rabbis busted for laundering money and selling body parts, from human bodies which are deemed to be holy and which for years, their very own orthodox sects refused their members to allow their dying to donate organs.

God made us all with a yetzer ha ra, an evil inclination, and no amount of ritual will replace doing a rigorously honest daily chesbon ha nefesh,a moral inventory of our soul, a daily honest vidui, confession, to God and a rabbi, and immediate teshuvah, amends, if we did something wrong.

As a Rabbi who deals with mashpiah ruchanit, spiritual counseling, with Jews locally, nationally and internationally, with Jews from all sects, who are both lay and Rabbanim, I know and can assure you, that the yetzer ha ra, is alive and well, in every one of us. It is only through our daily willingness to ask God to remove it, that we can listen to the '''still small voice '' inside of us, which is the Divine spark and our yetzer tov.

What really gets to me as a teacher of Talmud, and why I think there is resistance to Talmud learning in the Liberal community, is the twisting of Talmud, and the perverting of its wise teachings of love, kindness, mercy, justice, of both a universal God, and the way we should treat each other, by those whose motives are not pure and are not Judaic.

Unfortunately, a gross example of this perversion of Talmud was seen in these rabbis arrested for money laundering and selling body parts.

The Talmud consists of two parts as I describe in my book, in the chapter on how to study Talmud Rabbi Arthur Segal : (002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. We have the Mishna, the Oral Law. It comes from the Hebrew root word for 'repeat' as it was repeated orally. It has the same root as the Hebrew word for 'year' (shana), which repeats, as well. The Mishna is written in Hebrew and Traditional Jews believe this Oral Law was given to Moses on Mt Sinai. The second part of the Talmud is the Gemara, from the word Mara for study or learn. It has the same root as the Hebrew root for teacher, Moreh, or Morah. The Gemara is the section with each Mishna (with some exceptions), where the rabbis discuss what the Mishna means and how it applied to their daily lives. The Gemara is written in Aramaic, the language of the street of Babylon, which is the home of Talmudic Rabbinic Judaism.

So its irritating to find Rabbis using Talmudic words as code. I am trying to find it humorous and by my night time Shema when I ask God , among other things, to have me forgive anyone who has antagonized me, I will. But it is out of a Mob movie where Lil' Nicky asks Frankie-Four-Fingers to deliver 100 mortadello sandwiches, which is code for 100 kilos of heroin.

"Our" rabbis used the word Gemora to mean $1,000. So, "Moshe, bring me 65 Gemoras," meant "bring me $65,000.'' When Moshe asks his rebbe what time he wants to study, it is code for what time does the rabbi want the money delivered.

Now, what I really would like to know are these two things. They got arrested on Thursday, July 23, 2009, the second day of Av, the second day of the 9 days, when one, among other things, does not bath. My first question is: did these Rabbanim get excused from being hosed down at a Prison? My second question is: how does one say in Yiddish: "Rabbi, you is my woman now?"

Oy, Please add these folks to your mishaberach, prayer, list.

Shavuah Tov,

Rabbi Arthur Segal

Jewish Spiritual Renewal

Jewish Renewal

Jewish Spirituality

Eco-Judaism

Hilton Head Island, SC

Savannah, GA

Bluffton, SC

THE TALMUDIC TRAITOR RABBIS

BLASPHEMY IN $$ 'SCAM'

By REUVEN FENTON, JEANE MacINTOSH and CHUCK BENNETT

'CODE' CRACKED: Feds say the rabbis caught in the money-laundering scheme, including Saul Kassin, used religious code words when conducting their business.

Last updated: 3:13 am
July 25, 2009
Posted: 2:40 am
July 25, 2009

The religious talk by a crew of allegedly crooked rabbis was anything but kosher.

The rabbis and other prominent Jews captured in this week's FBI sting operation referred to money laundering as Talmudic study sessions while hiding their illicit transactions in a web of religious charities, according to the federal criminal indictments that have rocked the Jewish communities of New Jersey and Brooklyn.

Evidence collected against the rabbis show they allegedly used the code word "gemora," the Hebrew word for the Jewish holy books of the Talmud, when referring to cash.

"I'm bringing, uh, 55 gemoras, and then I'll see you," undercover FBI operative Solomon Dwek told Brooklyn Rabbi Mordchai Fish when he wanted to launder a $55,000 check.

Fish, who teaches Torah classes at the Sheves Achim synagogue in Borough Park and runs several nonprofits, replied, "When do you want to learn?" -- the code for what time should the transaction go down.

Those exchanges were all captured on audio by Dwek, a real-estate developer accused of bank fraud who became an FBI informant.

They were laid out in painstaking detail among the 44 criminal complaints against rabbis, businessmen and New Jersey elected officials who were arrested Thursday as part of a massive, two-pronged corruption probe.

Throughout the three-year sting, approximately $3 million was laundered by the rabbis, according to prosecutors. The probe led to the separate investigation into New Jersey political corruption.

The rabbis and prominent members of the Jewish community used gemachs, organizations that traditionally provide no-interest loans for weddings or schooling, to transfer illicit money, prosecutors said.

For example, New Jersey developer Moshe "Michael" Altman used his Gemach Shefa Chaim as a front, prosecutors allege. He was allegedly caught on tape directing Dwek to cut a check to his gemach for $75,000.

Altman deposited the check, took a commission, and returned $63,750 in cash to Dwek, according the complaint.

The feds began the money-laundering probe a decade ago, prosecutors said, but began making real progress after they flipped Dwek, who was busted in 2006 for trying to scam PNC Bank out of $50 million.

Other money allegedly was funneled through Saul Kassin, the 87-year-old chief rabbi of the Sheepshead Bay synagogue Sharee Zion and head of the $6 million nonprofit Magen Israel Society.

He partnered with Rabbi Eliahu Ben Haim, leader of the Congregation Ohel Yaacob in Deal, NJ. Ben Haim used the Friends of Yachave Da'at and his synagogue's charity to launder millions, the complaint says.

Once a check was deposited with his charity, which he recorded as "anonymous donations," Ben Haim either paid Dwek himself -- out of cash he stored in a Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers box -- or had an Israeli contact send money.

Additional reporting by Liz Sadler

cbennett@nypost.com

A Short Snap Shot of Rabbi Arthur Segal

Rabbi Arthur Segal: United States; I am available for Shabbatons, and can speak on various aspects of Jewish history, (from the ancient past to modern day, and can be area specific, if a group wishes), Spirituality, developing a Personal Relationship with God, on the Jews of India and other 'exotic' communities, and on Talmud, Torah and other great texts. We have visited these exotic Jewish communities first hand. I adhere to the Mishna's edict of not using the Torah as a ''spade'', and do not ask for honorariums for my services. I am trans-denominational and renewal and spiritually centered.; I am available to perform Jewish weddings, and other life cycle events, ONLY IF, it is a destination wedding and the local full time pulpit rabbi is unavailable, or if there is no local full time pulpit rabbi, or it is in my local area and all of the full time pulpit rabbis are unavailable.; My post-doc in Psych from Penn helps tremendously when I do Rabbinic counseling. My phone number and address will be made available once I am sure of one's sincerity in working with me.; Rabbi Segal is the author of three books and many articles on Torah, Talmud and TaNaK and Jewish history. His books are : The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud, and Spiritual Wisdom of our Talmudic Sages. The first two are published by Amazon through their publishing house, BookSurge.; For information on how to purchase these, please contact RabbiSegal@JewishSpiritualRenewal.net and visit WWW.JewishSpiritualRenewal.Net. OR CLICK ON THE IMAGES BELOW.; Todah Rabah and Shalom uvracha. Rabbi Arthur Segal ,( Dr. Arthur Segal )RabbiASegal@aol.com .

Click to Order	THE HANDBOOK TO JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice into a step-by-step process to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality in a concise easy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner. If you find yourself wishing for the strength to sustain you through the ups and downs of life; if you want to learn how to live life to its fullest without angst, worry, low self-esteem or fear; or if you wish that your relationships with family, friends and co-workers were based on love and service and free of ego, arguments, resentments and feelings of being unloved...this book is for you. Price: $19.99 254 Pages Published by: Amazon's BookSurge

Click to Order	A SPIRITUAL AND ETHICAL COMPENDIUM TO THE TORAH AND TALMUD Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us. This companion to The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew brings the Torah alive with daily relevance to the Modern Jew. All of the Torah can be summed up in one word: Chesed. It means kindness. The Talmud teaches that the Torah is about loving our fellow man and that we are to go and study. The rest is commentary. This compendium clarifies the commentary and allows one to study Torah and Talmud to learn the Judaic ideals of love, forgiveness, kindness, mercy and peace. A must read for all Jews and deserves a place in every Jewish home. Price: $24.99 494 Pages Published by: Amazon's BookSurge

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(001) The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal

In The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal: A Path of Transformation for the Modern Jew, Rabbi Dr. Arthur Segal distills millennia of sage advice to reclaim your Judaism and your spirituality.

Price : $19.99

(002) A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud

A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud dissects each of the Torah's weekly sections (parashot) using the Talmud and other rabbinic texts to show the true Jewish take on what the Torah is trying to teach us.

Price : $24.99

(003) Tzadakkah Bundle

The Handbook to Jewish Spiritual Renewal and A Spiritual and Ethical Compendium to the Torah and Talmud. Purchase both books as a set, and I will donate a portion of the sales price in your name to the tzadakkah of your choice. -- Rabbi Segal